A 'debt mountain' of epic proportions
I recently learnt from the single parent charity Gingerbread that there is a 'debt mountain' of over £5 million owed to children in Edmonton in child maintenance arrears. It's a figure that truly shocked me. What surprised me even more is that out of the 647 parliamentary constituencies, Edmonton's £5 million worth of child maintenance debt is far from being the biggest - it doesn't even come close. In fact, Edmonton is the 407th worst offender. There are 406 constituencies with more owed and Great Grimsby is top of the charts with a child maintenance debt mountain of over £11 million. The figure for the whole country is a staggering £3,761 million.
What is worse still is that hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds will go completely uncollected. Only around £1,065 million of the £3,761 million March 2010 total is deemed to be 'collectable' by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which is now in charge of the Child Support Agency. And last year, this body missed its debt collection target, collecting £147 million of arrears against a target of £170 million. Child maintenance is such a vital source of income for many single parent families, paying for items such as children's clothes, school meals, trips and activities, that it is particularly painful to know that certain money is considered to be non-collectable.
I am totally in support of the work Gingerbread are doing nationally to cut these child maintenance debt mountains, particularly their calls for a debt recovery target for 2010/2011 to be set by the Child Support Agency as a matter of urgency. And on a more local level, if you are a single parent looking after children and needing help in recovering child maintenance arrears - or help and advice with a number of other, not exclusively single parent issues, including benefits and tax, child maintenance, housing and employment - you can call Gingerbread's free helpline on 0808 802 0925 or you can find out more about their highly valued work by going on their website.
What is worse still is that hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds will go completely uncollected. Only around £1,065 million of the £3,761 million March 2010 total is deemed to be 'collectable' by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which is now in charge of the Child Support Agency. And last year, this body missed its debt collection target, collecting £147 million of arrears against a target of £170 million. Child maintenance is such a vital source of income for many single parent families, paying for items such as children's clothes, school meals, trips and activities, that it is particularly painful to know that certain money is considered to be non-collectable.
I am totally in support of the work Gingerbread are doing nationally to cut these child maintenance debt mountains, particularly their calls for a debt recovery target for 2010/2011 to be set by the Child Support Agency as a matter of urgency. And on a more local level, if you are a single parent looking after children and needing help in recovering child maintenance arrears - or help and advice with a number of other, not exclusively single parent issues, including benefits and tax, child maintenance, housing and employment - you can call Gingerbread's free helpline on 0808 802 0925 or you can find out more about their highly valued work by going on their website.